The Fragile Mind

The tingling sound of delicate hopes

Dashed forever sounded in her mind

 

He was gone

Leaving her empty

 

Huddled in a corner of the place they had called home

Clutching the tattered rags of her memories against

herself to stay warm

 

The echoes of a life incompletely lived

Resounding within her mind

 

Wait she wanted to scream.

Stop she wanted to beg

 

Let me be

Let me hold on for a few more minutes

Let me pretend this is just another day

And as evening comes he will be here again

His voice driving away the darkness

Teasing her about her spiky writing

Chiding her for her incomplete cooking

Rebuking her about the dusty corners

Chastising her for her unkempt hair

Reproaching her for the undone chores

Oh, her mind moaned

If only he would admonish her just once again

 

 

The days passed, and he didn’t come

The dust gathered, and the cobwebs grew

Both inside and outside

Until time itself receded and became meaningless

 

But somewhere she began to fathom

And suddenly in the depths of that unraveling mind

The realization dawned irrevocably

He is gone forever and will never come in again

And then

Suddenly there was just her

HE was banished forever into nothingness

Just her mind remained in that body

Where both had fought for supremacy for so long

And now she was free

Free to emerge from the darkness into the light

Free to finally be herself